NEWARK, New Jersey - An American Jew was among three suspects nabbed for allegedly attempting to smuggle a missile to terror groups operating inside the United States in order to down commercial aircraft.

But the smuggling attempt was in fact a sting operation orchestrated over the past 18 months by U.S., Russian and British authorities.

Terrorism-related charges were leveled on Wednesday against a British arms dealer who praised Osama bin Laden and thought he was smuggling into the United States missiles, federal prosecutors announced.

Two other suspected accomplices to the plot, inlcuding Yehuda Abraham, who is Jewish, face conspiracy charges, the prosecutors said.

"This morning, the terrorists who threatened America lost an ally in their quest to kill our citizens," U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie told a news conference on the plaza of the federal courthouse in Newark, New Jersey.

Moments earlier, two of the three suspects appeared before a federal magistrate amid tight security at the courthouse, where authorities spelled out charges against them.

Hemant Lakhani, identified as a well-known British arms dealer, was accused of providing material support to terrorists and of illegal weapons dealing, Christie said.

A second man, Moinuddeen Ahmed Hameed, was charged with illegally transmitting money to help finance the plot, Christie said. A third, Abraham, was due to appear later on Wednesday in federal court in New York on similar charges.

Lakhani was arrested on Tuesday in Newark after trying to sell a Russian-made shoulder-fired surface-to-air missile to FBI informants posing as extremists who wanted to shoot down a large commercial airliner, officials said.

The missile was intended "specifically for the purpose of shooting an American airliner out of the sky," Christie said.

Meanwhile in London, police said they searched two sites at the request of U.S. authorities in the sting operation. No arrests were made, and officials declined to say where they were carried out.

Lakhani, wearing a rumpled striped shirt, bowed his head and said nothing during his court appearance. A lawyer representing Lakhani later declined to comment to reporters.

The charge of providing support to terrorists carries a possible 15-year prison sentence and a $250,000 fine, while the weapons charges could mean 10 years in prison and a $1 million fine.

Lakhani and Hameed were each given a court date for later this month to determine if they might be released on bail.

According to a criminal complaint, the sting began in December 2001, when officials learned about Lakhani from an informant.

They used the unidentified informant to contact Lakhani, a British citizen born in India, and investigators said they audiotaped and videotaped 150 conversations between the two men. Lakhani made a number of anti-U.S. remarks during those talks, it said.

"He on many occasions referred to Americans as bastards (and) Osama bin laden as a hero who had done something right and set the Americans straight," Christie said. Bin Laden's al Qaeda group is blamed for the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.

"Mr. Lakhani knew full well what he was doing, why he was doing it, and ... he very clearly expressed his sentiments toward this country and its citizens," he said.

The informant pretended to Lakhani that he represented a Somali group that wanted to purchase an anti-aircraft missile, the complaint said. The Somali group told Lakhani they would pay $85,000 for a sample missile and promised to purchase 50 more later.

The complaint said Lakhani told the informant "ours is a much higher quality" surface-to-air missile that those were fired in November 2002 at an Israeli passenger plane taking off from Mombasa, Kenya, but did not hit the aircraft.

The third suspect, Abraham, took a $30,000 partial payment on behalf of Lakhani, it said.

Another payment of $500,000, which the U.S. Attorney said was 10 percent of the price, was in the works to purchase the additional missiles.

Hameed, who is from Malaysia, was only brought into the scheme in the last couple days to handle the larger payment, but money never changed hands, it said.

Russian authorities who worked in the sting provided an inert missile that was shipped to the United States. Lakhani was arrested when he tried to retrieve it at a Newark hotel, authorities said.

I'm not sure it's wise to release this news. Since this Yehuda Abraham fellow is a Jew and all, I'm just sure there'll be a huge outbreak of violence against Jewish folks. I think they should re-write this news story and re-submit it, after I approve its contents, of course.

From what I saw, he is in his 70's, and has a shop in the diamond district. Some of the folks in the diamond district-regardless of ethnicity, etc.-are so crooked they have to sleep in a silo, and there are still a few remnants of the old "Jewish Mobs": some of whom make the Mafia look like amateurs.

11
posted on 08/13/2003 1:24:50 PM PDT
by genefromjersey
(So little time - so many FLAMES to light !!)

Well, we don't know that for sure yet. But I'm pretty sure that he might turn out to be one of those ISM "peace activists." He hasn't been described as "ultra-Orthodox" so that probably rules out the Neturei Karta freaks.

12
posted on 08/13/2003 1:25:29 PM PDT
by Alouette
(Every democratic politician should live next door to a pimp, so he can have someone to look up to.)

The Jewish belief system is alot closer to Islam than it is to Christianity. (eye for an eye, no foregivenss, no redemption, etc.) Remember that Mohammad had close contact to Jewish tribes and borrowed most of his religion from his understanding of the religious practices of these tribes.

The Jews were integral in the Moorish occupation of Spain. It should come as no suprise that at least some Jews are siding themselves with Islam against the United States.

seems they forgot to mention the religion of this guy although it was important enough to point out the jew. Not that it matters I am sure with a name like Moinuddeen Ahmed Hameed he is probably a nice Irish catholic guy certainly not a member of the religion of peace

Well, not to defend reuters or anything, but catching muslims plotting terror against US is news, but not because they are muslim. That part isn;t news at all. But catching a jew in cahoots with muslim terrorists? That is news, and the fact that a jew was in cahoots is news, because you wouldnt expect it. two cents.

Remember that Mohammad had close contact to Jewish tribes and borrowed most of his religion from his understanding of the religious practices of these tribes.

His "close contact" mostly involved making and then breaking a peace treaty, then butchering the men and taking the women and children to be forcibly converted to Islam. Oh, yeah, and the women he captured were fair game to be raped, because that's how conquest of non-Muslims works according to Islamic law.

The Jews were integral in the Moorish occupation of Spain.

The only reason the Jews lived with Muslims is that there were a lot of Christians who were murdering Jews wherever they could find them. They weren't always treated wonderfully in the Muslim world, but at the time they were much better off there than under Christendom.

It should come as no suprise that at least some Jews are siding themselves with Islam against the United States.

This is one man, and we don't know his motives or anything else, not "some Jews." There is a Jew who is helping Robert Mugabe, and he's doing it completely out of greed, not because "some Jews" have an ideological affiliation to Mugabe. Heck, there are Jews who aid Palestinian terrorists. Anyone who claims Jewish people are perfect is a liar, and anyone who holds them to that standard is a racist. How can other Jews account for the behavior of lone wackos, any more than Catholics could have taken responsibility for McVeigh's actions?

37
posted on 08/13/2003 2:07:12 PM PDT
by xm177e2
(Stalinists, Maoists, Ba'athists, Pacifists: Why are they always on the same side?)

What I meant by calling this terrorist a JINO is that he's likely a Jew in name only.

How were you able to glean that from the article?

I remember the initial threads after the Israeli "movers" were picked up for whooping it up from the Jersey shore as the Towers fell. Many here assured the forum that these cretins were certainly Israeli-Arabs....they were dead wrong and that story has never really been explained to my satisfactorily.

The Jewish belief system is alot closer to Islam than it is to Christianity

Actually, you're completely wrong.

Islam and Christianity share a great many features, most important of which is the fact that they see it as their duty to convert non-christians and non-muslims into christians and muslims, respectively. Traditionally, neither party has been all that fastidious how that was done.

Judaism, on the other hand, is forbidden to proselytize. More of a "live and let live" religion.

It should come as no suprise that at least some Jews are siding themselves with Islam against the United States.

And where did you pick up this slimy piece of witlessness? Stormfront? Why don't you slink back there, boob?

43
posted on 08/13/2003 2:37:52 PM PDT
by Cachelot
(~ In waters near you ~)

Very likely. Somebody tipped off the BBC. My guess is a traitor in the Russian FSB. They only got involved toward the end. An America rat or Brit would have tipped the media off or warned the perps away at the start. So the mob lost one guy. He's old and doesn't matter.

Both Judaism and Islam are religions of "Justice" (eye for an eye). Christianity is a religion of foregiveness and salvation.

There are Jewish Freepers who justify their hatred of Christianity based on their belief of what happened during the dark ages. There are Muslims who are angry at what happened during the 1st Crusade.

Both belief systems are based on an absense of foregiveness. That is why I wish the best of luck to our 12 million Jewish friends in their dispute with 1.5 billion muslims. It ain't gonna end anytime soon.

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